How it works
Each scan with Page Changes on reads the visible text of every page the project monitors. The first scan records it as the baseline. Every scan after that compares the page with its baseline and records a change when the text differs.
- Runs of spaces are collapsed before comparing, so whitespace alone is not a change. Nothing else is ignored: a price moving from 9.99 to 19.99 is a change.
- Scripts, styles and embedded frames are always ignored.
- You are emailed the first time each change is seen, not on every scan that still shows it.
- A baseline only moves when someone accepts the new content. Pulse never accepts a change on its own.
Turn it on
- Open the project in Pulse and click Edit.
- Tick Page Changes. It adds one browser pass to each scan.
- Optional: in Compare only this part of the page, enter a CSS selector such as
main,#contentor.article-body. Leave it empty to compare the whole page. If the selector matches nothing on a scan, that page reports a problem rather than reporting that everything was deleted. - Optional: in Ignore these parts, enter one CSS selector per line for anything that changes on its own, such as
.carousel,#live-chator.timestamp. - Click Save Project and run a scan. The first scan sets the baseline.
When you click Run Scan, the check picker also lists Page Changes, so you can include or leave it out of that one scan.
Review a change
Open the project and click Page Changes (the button appears once the check is on). The page shows three tiles: Pages watched, Changed now (pages that differ from their baseline) and Changes recorded.
The Pages table has one row per monitored page:
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| Page | The page URL. "Comparing selector only" when a selector is set, plus any warning from the last read |
| Status | Baseline recorded (first reading), Unchanged, Changed, or Could not read |
| Last checked | When the page was last read, in UTC |
| Changed since | When the current change was first detected |
The Change history table lists the last 100 changes with when each was detected, the page, and a summary of what changed. Click the view icon on a row to open What changed on that page: lines starting with a plus were added, lines starting with a minus were removed. Very large changes are cut short and say so.
Accept as baseline
When a change is expected, click Accept as baseline on that page's row in the Pages table. What the page says today becomes the new comparison point, and the page reads as unchanged until its content moves again. Until you accept, the page stays on the list as Changed.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| "No pages are being compared yet" | The check is off, or no scan has run since it was turned on. Click Open project setup, turn it on and run a scan |
| A page changes on every scan | Something on it changes by itself. Add its selector to Ignore these parts, or narrow Compare only this part of the page |
| A page shows Could not read | The page did not load, or the selector matched nothing. Check the URL and the selector |
| "There is nothing to accept on that page" | The page already matches its baseline |